bestseller too. his novel "commands authority" is due out in december. he died last night at the age of 66. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. i'll be back at 11:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 on the west coast for a special cnn report this evening -- shutdown showdown. i now turn you over the my colleague wolf blitzer in "the situation room." wolf? thanks very much. "the situation room" special report. government shutdown. two days. president obama reaching out to congressional leaders in both parties inviting them far meeting at the white house only minutes from now. will there be a breakthrough or not? plus, hundreds of patients including children with cancer who want to start clinical trials and can't. we're taking a closer look at the real impact of the shutdown. it's having an enormous impact already across the country. and if you think things are bad now, guess what? it may be getting a whole lot worse from here. details on what could happen if

the looming shutdown over the national debt isn't resolved. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." live picture of the white house where republicans and democrats are about to come together for the first time since the crisis formally took place 41 hours ago. president obama is inviting congressional leerlds to meet with them face to face at the white house to try and cut through some of the bitter gridlock over the government shutdown as well as the looming shutdown over the national debts. only moments tagg president laid down his terms for negotiating with the republicans in an interview with cnbc. >> i'm prepared to negotiate on anything, but what i've also said is that it is not acceptable for one faction of one party in one chamber to say either we get what we want or

we'll shut down the government or, even worse, we will not allow the u.s. treasury to pay its bills and put the united states into fault for the first time in history. if we get in the habit where a few folks, an extremist wing of one party, whether it's democrat or republican are allowed to extort concessions based on threat of underr undermining the full faith and credit of the united states, then any president who comes after me, not just me, will find themselves unable to govern effectively and that is not something that i'm going to allow to happen. >> strong words from the president. let's go to the white house right now where correspondent cost co jim acosta is standing by watching all of this unfold. minutes away, as i point out, to this potentially critical meeting between the president, john boehner, the other democratic and republican leaders in the house and senate. set the scene for us. what do we anticipate? >> reporter: well, wolf, we

asked white house press secretary jay carney about this earlier today, why the president would sit down with congressional leaders when he and john boehner are so dug in. the white house is saying they want to get the discussions going but they're not really going to negotiate the budget until they get past this issue of the shutdown and past the issue of the debt ceiling. you heard the president say that in the interview with cnbc that aired in the last hour, the president saying he is exasperated with republicans, feels like he has bent over backwards to deal with the gop, an he reiterated during this interview that he is not going to negotiate over budget issues until the shutdown, the debt creeling is resolved. wolf, earlier today he met with wall street ceos here at the white house. those wall street ceos came out and offered their concerns about these two issues merging, the shutdown and the debt ceiling, a potential default on u.s. debts merging in the next couple week whence the debt ceiling hits on october 17th.

the president said this time, unlike past crises, this time wall street needs to be worried. here's what he had to say. >> i think this time is different. i think they should be concerned. and i had a chance to speak to some in the financial industry who came down for their typical trip, and i told them that it is not unusual for democrats and republicans to disagree. that's the way the founders designed our government. democracy's messy. but when you have a situation in which a faction is willing potentially to default on u.s. government obligations, then we are in trouble. and if p they're willing to do it now, they'll be willing to do it later. >> reporter: now, to ham they're point home, treasury secretary jack lew will also be at this meeting with the president, the vice president, and

congressional leaders within this hour, and, wolf, it is very interesting to note i think that the president gave this interview on cnbc, a business channel. that interview aired right after the markets closed. so clearly this was something that perhaps was designed by the white house to pick perhaps not rattle the markets but certainly warn them. wolf? >> jim acosta, thanks. don't go too far away. as soon as we learn anything that's going on in that meeting we'll go back to you. we first learned of the possibility of the talks at the white house between both sides at "the situation room" 24 hours ago during my interview with the number two democrat in the senate, dick durbin. here's a question, senator -- why doesn't the president of the united states do that, call the speaker, call senate minority leader, call the democratic leaders, bring them over to the white house, go to camp david, and make sure that the u.s. government is not shut down? >> i think that'll probably happen. >> you say the president's going to make that call and invite

them to all get together. when do you think that's going to happen? >> i think it will be soon. i don't have any special insight into it, but i would imagine it will be soon. the president has made it clear he is not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling. he wants this government open. they're not doing him a favor by opening the government. and they've got to get over the fact that he won the last election by 5 million votes. >> we know that meeting is is about to happen at the white house. we'll have live coverage surrounding it. our chief congressional correspondent dana bash is standing on capitol hill where lawmakers are getting ready to head over to the white house right now. they may already be on their way, dana. what are you hearing behind the scenes? what could happen? >> reporter: our producer said he saw mitch mcconnell, the cincinnati minority leader, leave capitol hill to head to the white house. you're exactly right. the wheels are in motion. the question is whether or not the wheels will take this train anywhere because from what i understand behind the scenes there is still pretty much nothing more than stalemate,

wolf. i was told by a source close to harry reid in a conversation that he had with speaker john boehner this morning. boehner made clear in private what he's said in public, that he cannot move the pass a bill that funds the entire government without at least some give on the part of democrats on obama care. i'm waiting to hear back from the speaker's aides to see what their perspective of that conversation is. but it gives you a sense of how entrenched they are for real. slinging barbs at each other but also behind the scenes. >> what's the latest on the piecemeal legislation that the gop, the republican lawmakers of the house, are pushing to fund various critically important parts of the government but not fund the whole thing? >> reporter: it's in the process of being passed. bit by bit, the house republicans have been putting these on the floor. they'll continue to do so all afternoon and into the early evening. it's a number of things, whether it is making sure that the national park service is funded,

veterans, but also nih. the republicans are making it very clear, they're not hiding the fact they are listening to what's going on in the media, listening to the xlanls out there and they're going to try to add some things to try to ease the pain of the most vocal and the most horrible. one of those is nih because of the fact that they fund clinical trials, especially for children. i asked harry reid about that and why he won't at least support that. if you all talked about children with cancer unable to go to clinical trials, the house is supposedly going to pass a bill that funds at least the nih. give whan you said, will you at least pass that? and if not, aren't you playing the same political games that republicans are? >> listen, senator durbin explained that very well. he did it here. he did it on the floor earlier as did senator schumer. what right do they have to pick and choose what part of government's going to be funded? it's obvious what's going on

here. you talk about reckless and irresponsib irresponsible, what this is all about is obama care. they are obsessed. i don't know what other word i can use. i don't know what other word i can use. they are obsessed with this obama care thing. it's working now and will continue to work and people will love it even more than they do now by far. they have no right to pick and choose. >> if you could help one child who has cancer, why wouldn't you do it? >> listen -- >> why pit one against the other? >> why would we want to do that? i have 1,100 people at nellis air force base that are sitting ho home. they have a few problems of their own. to have someone of your intelligence suggest such a thing is irresponsible. >> i guess i'm -- >> reporter: now, wolf, he says they don't want to pick and choose, pit one against another. of course they did in a

bipartisan way. the senate passed a bill that the president signed into law making sure men and women in the military are paid. they're already picking and choosing but clearly republicans are doing this for a very specific reason. they want to put democrats in a box, force them to vote against some of these things as they try to feg your out where they're going big picture. as you saw democrats, though, they're not buying it, they're digging in. >> see what happens at that critically important meeting this hour at the white house. dana, thanks very much. this coming into cnn. the jury in the michael jackson wrongful death trial has informed everyone -- informed the court, i should say, it has reached a verdict. the decision on whether the concert promoter saeg live in jackson's deft except to be read about 90 minutes or so from now. stand by. as soon as we learn of the verdict later, we'll share it with you. coming up in our "the situation room" special report, we're going live to the white house where that meeting between president obama and congressional leaders is about to get under way.

plus, children with cancer who want to start clinical trials now potentially can't. we're taking a closer look at the real impact this shutdown is having all across the united states.

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day two of the federal government shutdown and the impact is being felt across the united states with federal offices, national parks and a whole lot more closed for business. but perhaps the biggest impact is right here in washington, the heart of the federal government. cnn's brian todd, erin mcpike, and john zarrella are all working the story for us along with cnn's renay marsh, who begins our coverage. >> reporter: i'm rene marsh at the national institutes of health in bethesda, maryland, where 75% of their staff has been furloughed. that means hundreds of patients, some including children with cancer, who want to sign up for clinical trials here, can't right now. and in many cases those clinical trials are a last resort. now, there will be some exceptions made in certain emergency situations. and the current patients here undergoing clinical trials will

continue to get treatment. now, on capitol hill today, house republicans, they're favoring and pushing a measure that would fund nih completely despite the shutdown. however, senators, they have already said they reject the idea of funding the government by using a piecemeal approach. >> reporter: i'm brian todd at fda headquarters in silver spring, maryland, where an official told us they've been hit especially hard by the government shutdown, especially in the realm of food safety inspections. several hundred fda food inspectors have be furloughed. that means that the risk of foodborne illness and a possible outbreak increases with every day of the government shutdown. what are the products most vulnerable? i asked caroline smith dewall of the centers for science in the public interest. shoo we're especially concerned about produce items, leafy greens, cantaloupe, seafood, 80% of which is imported to the u.s., eggs are also regulated by

fda as are processed food items like peanut butter, which caused a major outbreak and killed nine people. >> reporter: not every fda food inspector is on furlough. hundreds remain on the job, and fda officials say here they are doing everything to prevent any kind of an outbreak. but still concern exists that food producers, farms, factories, may make mistakes or cut corners. >> reporter: i'm erin mcpike at the world war ii memorial, which did reopen this morning. national park service spokeswoman carol johnson told me today that they reopened it as a first amendment issue for veterans of world war ii who are coming to washington, d.c., on honor flight from different states. i spoke to one of those veterans this morning, dale kuhn, who actually fought in the korean w war. >> i'm always touched, and the tears come. but then on the other hand, i served my country. i signed the contract with the

government that i would do certain things. what are they doing? they're not doing a damn thing. >> reporter: politicians on both sides of the aisle came to the memorial this morning to greet veterans from their states as they arrived, and it was bipartisan. but i did speak to a white house aide this morning who was irritated that house republicans from all over the country came this morning demanding that the memorial be reopened fully to the public because they were saying house republicans want the memorial reopened, they can simply support a clean spending bill. >> i'm john zarrella in brooksfield, florida. this is a head start sent they're provides for 135 children from low-income families. the 3- to 5-year-olds get meals, education, and health care. the facilities funding ran out tuesday. supplemental funding runs out friday. after that, the doors shut here and at 16 cents run by mid-florida services in two other counties. >> that means 924 children in

three counties here in florida will not get to attend head start, and that means 215 staff members will not have a job after friday. >> if they don't make this budget and get it together, we're the ones who are going to suffer, and our children are going to be the ones who are going to -- you know, be without food, be without education. >> reporter: quite a few head start center around the state had later end dates for their federal dollars or other revenue sources. they're still open, for now. >> john zarrella reporting. coming up, a possible sign of progress on ending the government shutdown. congressional leaders, they are about to meet with president obama at the white house a few minutes from now. we're stand big for details. we'll go there live. and could there be another clinton on the wing? chelsea clinton says 2014 is, quote, the year of the baby.

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just quickly to some other top stories here in "the

situation room." first west want to warn our viewers out there the images in this first story you may find disturbing. eight people are dead, 14 injured in a horrific highway crash just east of knoxville, tennessee. state officials say a tour bus carrying a church group blew a tire, causing it to cross the median into oncoming traffic. the bus then hit an suv and a tractor-trailer, which immediately caught on fire before overturning on the highway. the best-selling author tom clancy, the man behind "the hunt for red october" and "patriot games" has died. a cause of death is not yet known. clancy was known for writing spy thrillers, 17 of those thrillers appeared on "the new york times" bestseller's list and many became major motion pictures. tom clancy was 66 years old. bill and hillary clinton potentially may be, who knows, they soon could be grandparents. listen to this. in an interview with "glamour" magazine, daughter chelsea clinton said she and her husband

are making the year 2014, quoting her now, the year of the baby. chelsea says her mom asks about grandchildren every day. so next year maybe could be a busy year for the entire family. with hillary clinton potentially also gearing up for a 2016 presidential run. police in poe poewe land are searching for a vandal who cut the arm off a statue of the former president ronald reagan. the sculpture was inspired by a famous associate of press photo of the two men in 1987. let me take a moment to pat my colleagues here at cnn on back for a job extremely well done. last night, cnn won three emmys at the annual news and documentary emmy awards. for starters. cnn projects barack obama will be re-elected president of the united states. he will remain in the white house for another four years because we project he will carry

the state of ohio. by carrying ohio, he wins re-election. our election night coverage won the emmy for outstanding live coverage of a current news story. long form, here it is. right there. very proud of this emmy. also, this -- >> you said sometimes people with different skin color, it's difficult for them to be friends, i think. what did you mean? >> well, like, people don't want to play with them. >> so who doesn't want to play with who? >> the different skin color people. >> so sometimes people with white skin color, they don't want to play with people with darker skin color? why? >> because they don't wanna. >> why do you think they don't want to? >> wow. that was from anderson cooper's special "kids on race." the hidden picture. it was amazing and it won for outstanding news discussion and

analysis. and then there's this. >> we're with rebel sources as they push into vital terrain for the fight for syria's commercial capital towards a key police station. they mass in number and surge forward. >> the outstanding writing emmy went to our own nick paton walsh for his outstanding reporting in afghanistan and syria. let me congratulate everyone for winning these emmys. job well done. just ahead, we're standing by for the white house meeting between president obama and congressional leaders. democrats and republicans. it's set to begin in only a few minutes. will they be able to end this impasse that shut down the federal government? plus, shocking poll numbers on raising the debt ceiling. and how many people aren't, yes, aren't afraid of a government default? t grabbed the patient'sd before we even picked him up.

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now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. president obama scheduled to meet with democrats and republicans as the government approaches their third day of the shutdown. their first face to face since the crisis began. gloria borger and john king and former treasury department chief of staff mark patterson. guys, thanks very much. gloria, the president once again just reiterated, we heard him say it one more time, goins into the congressional leadership, he's willing to negotiate down

the road but as far as the current impasse, he's not willing to negotiate. >> they have this huge speed bump, right? they can't get over the speed bump. you heard the president say it on cnbc, they're willing to talk about reductions in entitlement spending, without talking about taxes, that can get democrats pretty upset. they are not going to negotiate on this question of obama care. i was speaking with somebody in the administration today. they say it's done it's started, we're not taking anything away from people. it's over. we can't offer anything on it. sorry. >> this is another clip from cnbc. listen to this. >> am i exasperated? absolutely. because this is entirely unnecessary. we have a situation right now where if john boehner, the speaker of the house, puts a bill on the floor to reopen the

government at current funding levels so we can then negotiate on a real budget that allows us to stop governing from crisis to crisis, it would pass. the only thing that's stopping it is that john boehner right now has not been willing to say no to a faction of the republican party that are willing to burn the house down because of an obsession over my health care initiative. >> when he says, john, it would pass, if there were a what they call a clean bill, would it pass? >> question yes, if the moderate republican house members decided they were free of the leadership and if p they voted what they actually believed, yes. when leadership said give us more time, a bunch of members voted no when they would have voted yes. in their hears they want this over. mark knows from his days the president is not negotiating today but at least you're getting everybody in the same

room. i suspect today will not be terribly productive but you have to have that meeting to get to the next one. >> it's important they're talking. i'm surprised it's taking so long to bring the leadership to the white house. i would have thought they would do that in the hours leading up to the shutdown or at least day one. now it's day two, maybe better late than never. look at this, mark, and you used to work in the treasury department for timothy geithner, his chief of staff, a new poll, if the debt ceiling comes up october 17th is not raised it would be a good thing, 38% think it would be a good thing if congress did not raise the debt ceiling, and you think it would be a horrible thing. talk to those 38% who think, you know what, the government spends enough money, you don't have to raise debt ceiling. >> i was going to say those numbers aren't so bad because they've been much worse in previous years. the public is more concerned about the debt limit. >> why is it so horrible if the congress fails to raise the debt ceiling? >> because most economists

believe is that you'd have a whole bunch of symptoms similar to the one we've had in the financial crisis that we've just been through. it could potentially lead us back into recession. they would all start with the treasury interest rate going up, interest rates going across the board, consumer confidence sink, business confidence sinking and so forth. >> is it conceivable to you that congress would not do this? >> unfortunately, i think it's a possibility. failing to to do this would be unthinkable. it's never happened in our history. congress does have this responsibility. it's a pretty solemn one. it is in the constitution. they have under article 1 responsibility for borrowing. if they allow the debt limb to cause a default crisis i think that would be potentially catastrophic. >> and this is where they might -- and i don't want to be pollyanna here because god knows that doesn't work in washington these days, but they all understand the consequences here of not acting. and the public, if you were to be thrown into another

recession, if people weren't going to get their home mortgages, if interest rates were going to go up, they'd have one place to look, and that would be washington and that would be everybody. and this would affect the president's legacy and would affect every member of congress no matter how conservative your district is or how liberal your district is, you would get the blame. that's why i think there may be some hope here. >> i was just talking to a re reliably republican voter who happens to be an essential federal government employee. she says my savings from the financial cry are just back to where they were pre-financial crisis. if they do this to me, i will never vote republican again. that's what she said. >> numbers from our new poll. if the debt ceiling is not raised and we asked democrats, republicans, independents, democrats, you know, thought it would be at 77% of democrats thought it would be bad, 49% of independents, 40% of republicans. and sort of mirror image as far as good is concerned. there's a clear political split. >> that is red and blue america.

it's also a fact that the president has a sales problem. i'm not blaming the president but as mark says we've never gone there so maybe the leersd don't talk about it enough, explain the economics of it. this is not about running deficits but the government borrowing to pay its bills for things it's already done. one, the majority of republicans think it would be a good thing. that's why these republicans in the house are unafraid at the moment. they're going home to district where is their voters are say gog for it. if you look at the middle of the electorate, the independents, most republicans have been very pleased politically that the president over the course of his second term has been losing support among independents. you see that divide right there. the middle of the electorate is uncertain on this. so as the president makes his case against the republicans, he needs to explain the consequences to the american people. >> but what they want to see you do, and mark knows this best, you raise the debt ceiling, say, okay, we have to pay the credit card bills, they also say tighten your bell at the same time. so that's why you see the president talking act, okay, we're going to tighten our belt when we e talk about the debt ceiling, that's an argument people can accept. >> but the republicans don't

believe there will be pressure on the president to tighten the country's belt if they simply go ahead and raise the debt ceiling. they're using this as leverage even though you probably believe john boehner agrees with you it would be a disaster for the economy, could throw the economy into another recession if the debt ceiling is not raised. >> what's so frustrating about this is that this could be fixed tomorrow. i think the votes are there in the house to raise the debt ceiling tomorrow. so it's really a matter of a choice that needs to be made by republican leaders and they have to wait and listen to the other members and who are listening to their constituents. >> but i hear you say they may not do that. >> they may not. but they can and they have done it before. the bill to provide aid for hurricane sandy passed with all democratic votes, hardly any republicans but the speaker made a decision we have to do this. >> the sequester, forced budget cuts came in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis. >> souper committee -- >> republicans do believe the president will negotiate. they may try to separate it, not over the bill, a separate deal,

and that's fine. that's a big question. >> the meeting under way at the white house, gloria, jack lew, the treasury secretary, is there, and the president specifically wanted him there to explain the ramifications of not raising the debt ceiling. >> right so, they can take this back to their troops and say this is what the secretary of the treasury has said. look, i think that if they start negotiating on big esche issues like entitlement spending in regards to the debt ceiling, the american public could support that and they ended up supporting it in 2011. but if the health care plan still becomes an issue on the debt ceiling, it's le ee's likee attached to an orange and that would be a much more difficult sell and a difficult if not impossible negotiation. >> i'd like to be a fly on the wall in that meeting going on at the white house right now. maybe they'll come out and speak to us, maybe the president will, maybe the leadership will, and we'll get an inkling of what's been going on. guys, thanks very much for coming in. coming up, how to resolve the government shutdown. paul begala and bill crystal are

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much more of our special report on the government shutdown coming up including my interview with peter king. tweet me your questions for him. #sitroom. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

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tay or paul begala and bill crystal, editor of the "weekly standard." they're meeting inside the white house right now. paul, the president, democratic and republican leadership including speaker john boehner, how do they realistically, no talking points, realistically resolve this? >> they don't. that's the wrong group in the meeting. i'm glad they're meeting, i suppose it's good for democracy, i do think this president doesn't meet often enough with congressional leaders, a fair criticism of our president, but that's not the meeting that is going to resolve this. the meeting that's going to resolve this is when john boehner turns to the lemming caucus, the tea party caucus, and his party and he says what bob dole said during the last government shutdown -- enough. bob dole was the grown-up in the room. he said enough, we're not going to hurt the party or the country anymore, and the shutdown ended. and john boehner at some point is going to have to put on his big-boy pants and stand up to speaker ted cruz and the rest of the wacko birds as john mccain calls them, and put an end to

this. that's where it will come from, not from barack obama or nancy pelosi. >> bill crystal, go ahead. >> paul's reliving the glory days of the shutdown that bill clinton outmaneuvered with newt gingrich and bob dole. barack obama is not bill clinton. if bill clinton were president, i'd be worried. he'd say of course i'll sign a bill that funds nih but not the rest of the government and more pressure on republicans to think of other ways to cause trouble. barack obama said it and they're saying i'm sorry, it's my way or the highway so, unreasonable for house republicans to seek to delay the individual mandate for a year after the president has delayed the employer mandate for a year and remove congressional exemption. that's gutting obama care? really? i'd like to gut obama care. maybe the president doesn't want to accept them. he can negotiate. thank god for republicans that bill clinton is not in the white house and that barack obama is. >> go ahead, paul. >> bill did not like president clinton quite so much when he was president of the united states. >> i didn't like him but i

respected him. it's not -- >> i know. >> in terms of news, let me say so paul can beat me up, the house republicans are going to pass in the next hour or two three bills that will fund nih, the national institutes of health, essential services of the d.c. government, i think the national parks and a veterans bill tomorrow. they have this on the regular calendar to pass with civil majority. 38 democrats in the house voted for those bills yesterday. i do not believe senator reid can hold senate democrats against those bills. his and the president's stance is they should vote against funding nih tomorrow. really? >> it's so cynical because as bill knows the republicans have cut the funding for nih by $1.5 billion. maybe $1.7 billion. i can't remember. but a billion and a half dollars cut out of the national stuls of health. now all of a sudden they're pretending like they care about it. this is all cherry-picking and all really cynical. you know, they ought to just fund the government. they should negotiate. there are probably tweaks and

improvements you can make to obama care. there are things democrats believe in we've not been able to get like gun safety and prekindergarten and minimum wage. this is what legging is. but you don't legislate with a looming government shutdown, with a current government shutdown and a looming defall on our debt. that's no way to run a super power. >> it isn't but that is the way, in fact, bill clinton and newt gingrich legislated, how the budget happened. it was attached to a debt ceiling increase. i think the best hope here, you asked how are we going to get out of it, we will because the government won't open up in the next few days, it will slide into a debt ceiling negotiation, which needs to begun soon. i'm glad the president has begun auk tacking to congressional leaders. we'll have a serious negotiation. if you expand the field of negotiation it gets easier. not just about these two riders to obama care. there are lots to things to discuss. the republicans can get some ding thing, the democrats, reach the debt limit. some on both sides won't like it but that's the grown-up thing to do. look, at the he is, paul, as you know, a

second-term reelected president of the united states. he doesn't have to worry about another election down the road. he can -- he might not be able to make -- >> yes, and he has. >> when he -- okay. the current continuing resolution that the democrats support cuts that almost to the levels of paul ryan wants. the democrats have conceded on the funding, and i talked to very senior house democrat a couple days ago who told me, and i quote, the tea party republicans are too stupid to take yes for an answer. they won on spending. the truth is we need to rebuild or infrastructure, need to do a whole lot more. instead we're going to do less, and the republicans can't even take the win they're so crazed with hate torrez for our president. >> wrap it up, bill. >> i think republicans will take

a win, and -- two days ago, my god, what a disaster, the stock market went down thousands of points, the whole country will be rising up. instead, this is not playing so badly. i wouldn't recommend getting here, but i do think the speaker has played this well, and i think we'll get into a debt ceiling negotiation and the republicans will come out of this fine. >> let's see what happens when this el come out of this -- maybe they have reached some sort of agreement. we'll see. all right. guys, thanks very much. a good solid debate. a republican congressman, talking about peter king, he calls the government shutdown a disaster. i'll stand by to speak with him live in the next hour. plus healthcare.gov laumpls but with a few issues. we'll take a look. but first rainn wilson, known for his role as dwight on the office is using his fame to

educate girls around the world. here is how he's doing that in our "impact your world" segment itches hi there. i'm reign wilson. together, we can make an impact on educating women and girls all around the globe. >> fill is, my sister, like my dead great-great-grandmother who died of stupidity. >> i have years, dwight. >> when i started getting well known as an actor, i got inundated by requests to be a spokesperson or doing various things for charity. i had an opportunity to explore what was most important to my in my heart and what i felt could make the greatest impact in the world. the mona foundation supports educational initiatives around the world, about 20 initiatives in about 15 different countries here in the united states. they targets women and girls. that's how you transform a community. they're the most at-risk population through most of the

developing world, targeting them to empower them and educate them is really the most crucial thing. also, they find grassroots educational program that are already working, but are underfunded, and come in to bring the support to help those organizations grow and thrive and flourish, and move forward. join the movement, impact your world at cnn.com/impact.

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here's jeanne moos on obama care. >> reporter: at the launch of obama care, it received a definitive diagnosis of --

>> glitchy. >> some technical glitches. >> a few glitches. >> reporter: and the symptoms of glitchy were grave, but not terminal. >> error messages, website crashes. >> an hour per page to load. >> please wait. >> the whole screen just froze up. >> that annoys twirly thing. >> reporter: across the land, those until hunched over their computers searching for affordable health care uttered two little syllables. >> uh-oh, the marketplace is busy, please wait. >> reporter: we know who is really responsible for crashing the system. it's those pesky press people testing it out. >> i kept getting an error message. so i pretended like i was really doing it. now i'm on hold. >> reporter: health and human services says in the first 24 hours, 4.7 million people visited healthcare.gov, we could swear almost 4.6 million were reporters and producer. >> we started about 35 minutes

ago, so at this point i'm going to hang up and call it a day. >> reporter: some might call that a failure, but not the obama administration. >> a few glitches, but sort of a great problem to have. >> it cannot handle the volume of traffic. >> too many people signing up is always the sure sign that nobody wants it. >> reporter: senate majority leader harry reid compared obama care to google, quoting one of the google's cofounders. >> he told me, when they first came online oh, did they have problems. they had problems, because too many people wanted to use google. >> reporter: if the computer doesn't work, you can always resort to the phone. >> look at these numbers! why is there even a hashtag number down here? aren't we supposed to tweet our health problems now? >> reporter: okay. so obama care didn't exactly launch with a bang. >> but within minutes -- thud. >> it's been more like a sputter. >> reporter: hey, at least

people have questions they want answered. >> questions people have about obama care, number ten -- will obama examine me? no, no. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> this is where my patience would be exhausted. >> reporter: new york. happening now, "the situation room" special report, govern shutdown. the breaking sinus. we're waiting for congressional leaders to leave the white house and tell us about their meeting with the president that's under way right now. was there any hint of compromise? stand by to find out. the house speaker's next move is key to this crisis. we're asking voters in john boehner's hometown if he's been doing the right think. and push back against the speaker and the tea party. republican congressman peter king on the shutdown sdas ever. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." the breaking news we're following in hour, congressional

leaders now meeting with president obama inside the white house. we're waiting for them to come out and give us a sense of what happened behind closed doors. republican leaders went in sounding skeptical about the president's invitation to talk on this, the second day of the government shutdown. in a new interview, president obama is standing behind his refusal to negotiate under congress passes a bill to open the federal government. let's go to our senior without correspondent jim acosta. he's watching all of the latest. any clue what is offer what may be going on inside, jim? >> reporter: not just yet, wolf, but the dramatic meeting is under way between president obama and congressional leaders. we caught just a glimpse of house speaker john boehner and house minority leader nancy pelosi entering the west wing of the white house. harry reid and mitch mcconnell were also heading into the doors of the white house within the last half hour, and what we are

seeing bakley right now between the white house and the capitol hill is a stalemate. they are at an impasse over whether to pass a clean continuing resolution. we heard some of this expressed by president obama earlier today in an interview with cnbc where he said he was exasperated, feeling like he has to break the tea party fever here in washington and wall street should be worried about the debt korean that's going to be hit by the u.s. on october 17th and the u.s. could potential go into default. they says all of that could be avoided if house speaker john boehner, in the words of the president, goes against the wishes of the most conservative members of his party and passes a spending billing. >> the only thing that's stopping them is john boehner has not been willing to say no to a faction of the republican party that are willing to burn

the house down because of an obsession over near health care initiative. >> reporter: now treasury secretary jan lieu is also in jack lieu is also in that meeting. this government shutdown now into day two is basically putting the country on a track where now in crisis over the shutdown is going to merge with a looming crisis, a looming deadline for the debt ceiling. that is what the white house is concerned about, the perfect storm, the double whammy hitting the nation all at once, something the white house and this president really wants to avoid. at this point, he says he is not negotiating with republicans and congress on anything that does not involve a continuing spending resolution that is not attached on other ideological provisions as he likes to put it. he says he will only sign

something into law that keeps the government running and nothing else. jim acosta over at the white house, thanks very much. the microphones we've been showing, outside the west wing of the white house in the driveway over the white house, we expect congressional leaders to emerge, and juan down that driveway, go to the microphones and tell us what was going on inside. we also know the president is already assuming this is going on for a while. he's already canceled two stops on his upcoming visit to asia that was supposed to begin this weekend. we'll see if he cans also his whole trip. john boehner has the power to extend or end the crisis. his next move could depending on the reply cat pressure he faces in washington as well as back home in ohio. joe johns is -- joe is joining us. what's going on over there. >> wolf, john boehner comes from

one of the most republican districts in the state of ohio, so people here are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. but talking to people, it's clear that republicans and democrats are quite annoyed with all the politicians, including the speaker of the house. this is where john boehner came from, working-class cincinnati. he's been in congress since 1990, now at a pivotal moment in washington, and in a bitter battle over oballa care. he has a 48% unfavorable rating, an all-time high in cnn polling. >> nobody knows what the rules are. >> at andy's cafe, which boehner family's own, the shutdown was no big deal, though government growth and bureaucracy are an issue. but when i asked jim brigger if he was with the tea party in congress, he wouldn't say. >> the government is way too big

and they need to reduce the size. however you want to take it, you take it that way. >> in boehner's district, they were more blunt about it. >> when john boehner lift here, he gave the message he was completely for the people, for the citizens of the country. since he's been in washington, i don't know, it just seems like sometimes he goes completely the other direction, sometimes he stays with you. >> reporter: what makes boehner tick? he comes from a catholic family of nine boys, two girls, moler high school, a linebacker at one of the most famous football schools in a sport-obsessed state. his coach went on to lead the notre dame fighting irish. he told me i never found a team player. he always insisted on playing even when hurt. a former boehner spokesman says he's driven by a refusal to give up. >> we've seen john come back from trouble many, many times.

he keeps chugging at it. he's a team builder, and because he's an eternal optimist, i think he can get up every day and go back to work in a very, very difficult circumstance. >> so now for boehner's constituents, the question is what he stands to gain in the shutdown? >> no, the last time they did it back in '96, you know, they didn't -- they're back in the same mess right now. >> reporter: outside the beltway, you get the sense that people aren't losing any sleep over is the impasse. a blaring headline about a shut down, but it's referring to the end of the season for the cincinnati reds baseball team that just lost their playoff game to the pirates. wolf? >> joe johns out there near cincinnati. thanks very much. much next, we're watching the stakeout over the driveway, the west wing of the white house, and we anticipate they will come out of their meeting with the president inside the

west wing, come to the microphones and speak to all of us. plus "closed" signs are everywhere, coming with a huge price tag. how the shutdown is costing all of us. a dire new warning that homeland security is also at risk because of this government shutdown. some lawmakers clearly are spooked. did you tell the president of the united states what you just told us? you scared the hell out of all of us. at least i'm scared.

peter king is about to join us from capitol hill. if you have a question for him, you can still tweet us, use the hash tack sitroom. we're us waiting for the congressional leaders to emerge. they're meeting in the west wing of the white house. you see the driveway and the microphones. they'll be watching out to the

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emerge from the white house. you see the microphones, as soon as they walk out, tell us what's been going on. you'll know as soon as we know. let's bring in peter king from new york. he's called this government shutdown, like so many people out there, a disaster. congressman, if you were in that meeting, what would you say to resolve this crisis? >> first of all, i have been very critical of the rpgs. however, also very critical of president obama for waiting so long to get involved. i would try to see if thebl put together a comprehensive agreement, so our country doesn't go through this. if they could even find a way to call a cease-fire over the next few weeks and put elements on the table. again, the president is going to be leaving. it shall be as encompassing as possible. the debt ceiling is the key issue here, if this tinges resolution debate goes on, and

the government continues to be shut down, it will only add more pressure and be much more damaging. >> would you like to see congressman, what's called a clean continuing resolution? as part of the conditions that both sides work out a -- separate from these two issues? >> i would certainly want the clean cr, the clean continuing resolution. as far as the debt ceiling, i don't want to be undercutting john boehner's negotiating position. if he feels that's best. i want the first thing done first, but really what i'm calling for is a clean continuing resolution to open the government, get the government resoaped and go from there. we asked our twitter followers. let me --. does representative king believe the tea party should be its own

party and not part of the republican party? >> go ahead. >> i do believe in the two-party system, but believe the ted cruz wing of the party is damaging. that's up to us to resolve early. i don't want fragmentations, or we'll end up like the french republics where 40 or a parties. it's important to keep them together, if possible. >> tell us why you think senator ted cruz has been -- i don't remember the word -- whatever word you used to describe him. >> i think the precise word, he was a fraud. he started this whole process, bringing pressure on republicans, he's the one behind this whoa ever to defund obama care and threatening to -- sent it over to him. he knew this could never work, he knew it from the start. that was why it was fraudulent advertising on his part.

and how the house republicans allowed nimselves toss suckered in is beyond me. >> strong words. i'm sure he will respond at some point. >> congressman, how much progress are you making in bringing over other republicans to your view. but what do you see? give us a political landscape. >> basically it's a work in progress, not going as fast as i would like it to. and trying to find the right time. i think the right time is now. but they are, again negotiating among themselves, finding the right time to make a decisive move, but i think the longer we wait, the worse it is. there is a good number. i would say -- on rules stopping

the process, probably another 100 who probably want the government to reopen. let me say this. i've been very critical of the ted cruz republicans. i give them credit for one thing. when they want to do something, they get it done. they don't worry about hurting anyone's feels, and that's why they're taken seriously. i give them credit for that. i wish people on my side had the same type of -- >> and you're on the subcommittee on terrific and intelligence. we heard james clapper say this government shutdown, the jeopardy increases for u.s. national security the longer the shutdown continues. is he right? >> yes, he is. i agree totally with senator graham on that. the fact is we have intelligence agencies, homeland security, counterterrorism people are being furloughed. the reservists are being federaloed the they make up a key component.

i have two former staff members who are active in the reserve. they do a tremendous amount of counterterrorism work on weekends. they have been furloughed, so we are definitely putting ourselves at risk. there's a real national security terrorism risk because of the shutdown. >> peter king, the republican congressman from new york, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. we're keeping a close eye on the west wing of the white house. there you see the marine guard, we anticipate fairly soon republican and democratic leaders to emerge from their meeting with the president. hopefully they'll come to the white house and tell us what happened. our coverage continues right after this. ♪ ♪ hey! ♪ ♪ let's go! ♪ [ male announcer ] you can choose to blend in. ♪ ♪ yeah! yeah! yeah! or you can choose to blend out. ♪ oh, yeah-eah!

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more than 42 hours into the government shutdown, the price tag for america is clearly growing by the minute. tom foreman joins us from our virtual stew i don't. >> we knew up-front there would be a big cost to some people, the first tier, sort of the red zone, 800,000 federal workers laid off, and of course anybody that has a business that day to day to day must rely on the government. they've been hit all right. there was the green zone, where people probably wouldn't feel it much. the aarons, the federal courts, borders and customs, postal service. where we are hearing the most reports of people being surprised about what's happening is in the middle, sort of the

yellow zone. you mentioned a minute ago, the idea of cutbacks in the intelligence community. we're told them about 77% now furloughed. they're not on the jobs right now, they've been laid off, so that may be surprising people, depending on what they run into, on and on it goes. we know there are people who cannot start any clinical trials, so maybe a life-saving medical procedure, yet they can't get a start at it. and about 19,000 families have been told that headstart is no longer available for their children right now. they're dealing with minor crisis in the family, and of course over the national zoo, the panda cam is not working. many people may look and say why

isn't this saving a lot of money for the government? it is in the short run, because that money is not being spent, but it almost all will have to be spend eventually or past records have dictated such a thing. in the meantime, what it means is this money is not going into the economy. how much? by one estimate 300 million a day not going into the government. >> this is a manmade disaster. let's keep that in mind. tom foreman, a dire new warns today that the government shutdown is extremely damaging to u.s. intelligence operations at america's national security. let's bring in our chief correspondent jim scuitto. you're taking a closer look at what's going on. >> i spoke to officials from several intelligence agency, they all expressed the same concern, as the shutdown drags on, it does affect the preparedness. 16 agencies, include the cia, the nsa., the defense

intelligence agencies and other, 70% of civilian employees are off-duty, including a whoa spectrum of workers from support staff to intelligence analysts. listen to how james clapper and lindsey graham describe the danger on the hill today i want the danger is this will accumulate over time. the damage will be insidious, so each day that goes by, the jeopardy increases. >> i think it's irresponsible for all of us to continue, but where the hell is the commander in chief some. >> intelligence officials warned that terrorists are watching the shutdown to look for new vulnerabilitie vulnerabilities. an additional concern is as the shutdown drags on, some employees will be under financial pressure, making them more vulnerable targets for more agencies, a dreamland for

foreign agencies. sxwel jens agencies do have the ability to call xhoiees back, and as i was speaking to several sources today, some of those agencies were calling some back. . >> of the 800,000 people who have been furloughed, civilian employees, about half are defense department employ crease. not military, but they do critically important work. chuck hagel wants them back on the job. >> several sources tell our barbara starr that the pay or troops act passed on monday, he believes it's broad enough to include some civilian employees. the question is, can he get the support from the white house? >> the president could declare a national security as well. >> he could, though the white house is reluctant to do this. >> it's only day two, but let's see how long it goes on.

thanks very much. once again we're waiting at the white house for the republican and democratic leadership to wind up their meeting with the president right now. right northeasterly they're inside the white house right now. we anticipate they'll be walking out at some point. we assume john boehner, nancy pelosi, the minority leader. let's see if they come out and tell us what's going on. but that meeting has been going on now for nearly one hour. who knows how long it will last, who knows what will emerge? we'll stay on top of it. stay with us throughout the coming minutes and hours for continuing coverage. that does it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "crossfire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire" the

president and congress finally start talking. what do you blame? >> both sides. they're fighting one another. badgeo, on the right. to delay obama care before -- who do you blame for the shutdown standoff? speaker boehner or the president? tonight on "crossfire." welcome. iismt s.e.cupp on the right. >> and i'm van johnson. if i were in the room, my message could be stand firm. we have compromised and pre-compromised enough. we gave away single payer, we gave away the public option. that's a compromise. even with this c.r., we have already rolled over and given republicans 10